Calibrated knitting needle



June 5, 1956 T. F. HADLER 2,748,582

CALIBEATED KNITTING NEEDLE Filed March 17, 1953 /2 Q4' /24 Mw l l l asf/CR... I0. 1 20.......30l ...40... 55. @E 4.-..?)

ATT-OR NEY United States Patent() CALIBRATED KNITTING NEEDLE Thomas F. Hadler, New York, N. Y.

Application March 17, 1953, Serial No. 342,949 v 1'v Claim. (Cl. 66-117') This invention" relates to. improvements in knitting needlesY and the like.

An. object'of the invention is to provide a novel and improved knitting needlev and/ or pair of or plurality of knitting needles in Which the construction of each. needle is such that the spatialconiguration and numericalarrangenient of the work, and each individual line of stitches in the work, may be continuously observed,y predetermined andlaid'out strictly as desired.

Another object' of the invention is to provide a novel and improved knitting needle and/ or plurality of knitting,

needles in which each needle is provided with. integrated calibration indicia, according to the needs of the knitter or operator of the devices, so that by mere inspection, and withoutthe need for'any mathematical or arithmetical' operations' or mental arithmetic, the precise number andarrangement of stitches inany'of the lines ofy stitches in the work may be obtained instantly, and the precise stopping point of a' particular operation or type of stitchingor coloration of stitching-ascertained.

A further object of the invention is to providea novel and improved knitting'needle of the character described, which may be made of any suitable length, in accordance with the particular requirements of the garment or cloth to be knitted orfabric'ated, the length of the needle body being' graduated and' subdivided,4 with numerical indicia marking oif'preselected graduations and subdivisions, in a direction commencing at or near the point or. beginning.

end ofthe needle and increasing progressively with. the distance away from the beginningpoint,` so that. the graduations, which may be impressed or otherwiseu marked2 upon. the needle outer surface, enable the user. toy readily measure oi the progress of his or her. work at a glance, by mere inspection.

Still another object` oflthe invention is to provide anovel and improved. knitting needle or setl of knitting needles, of vimproved constructiomfor mutual cooperation, in: which progressive indicia are carried right on the need-le -in terms of length of the distances all along the needle, with relation to numbers of stitches, asdistinguished from mere distance per se, that is, separate scalesl are provided whereby each graduation or a preselected number of graduations,

represents a known number of stitches, for the particular thickness of knitting thread or yarn being used on' that needle, so that each graduation' indicates one stitch, on a multiple thereof, and thus, when following an intricate decorative pattern in knitting, the user can readily followA along by inspection, without continuallyv keepingY mental count of the stitch formation and arrangement, and the;

necessary continuity and discontinuity thereof.

Still a further object of the invention isT to provide a novel and improved knitting needle and/or s'et of' knitting needles, in which there is a pluralityv of. calibrations on'v each needle or at least one of the set of needles", asi desired, the scales of. each calibration differing from the others,

and being adapted for use with a number of. diiferentA thicknesses of yarn, being scaled. insub'divisionst'o'reprei 2,748,582 Patented June 5,l 1956 vrice which. is simple in design, inexpensive to manufacture,

highly eiective for it's intended purposes, andY may be used by the average unskilled person` for knitting work without complex instruction.

These'and other objects and advantages of the invention Willrb'ecome apparent from the following descriptionofl a preferred embodiment thereofas illustrated in, the accom? panying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which,

Figure l is a side-elevational view showing one form of knitting needle according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational View showing a modified form of. the invention-in fragment, and partly sectioned'.

Figure 3` is a side elevational View showing another modied formof'the invention, in fragment.

Figure 4 is a sectional. elevational longitudinal view taken substantially on plane 4-4 of Figure 5, and showing still a further modified form ofl the invention,A

Figure 5 is atransverse sectional elevational view of the knitting needle of Figure 4, taken substantially on plane 5 5 of'Figure 4,

Inthe. manufacture and use of knitting needles, and the like, various inconveniences and diiiiculties are frequently encountered. Thus it has come into vogue to employ a range of sizes and diameters of knitting needles for each of the various gauges of knitting needle supplies such as yarn,-thread and the like. Further,where the number ofv stitches or loopsmust be counted and noted', as in makingl various knitted articles, it is quite dicult, hard on. the eyes,I and irksome to actually go through the process of counting eachstitch or loop in a given row of stitches, or in various rows of stitches. Thisv counting of stitches i'svery important, since the construction ofV a knitted gar ment, a sweater, pair of socks, or the like, depends primarily for its contours and sizing, on the accurate counting of stitches, as will be well understood by those skilled'l in the art of knitting by han'd. And hence, Where resort is had to a book of knitting instructions in making a knitted garment or other article, it will be found that the number of stitches in. each row, and subdivisions of eachrow, where necessary,v are stated distinctly, together with a notation. of what operation in knitting is to be done for each run of' stitches of a particular kind.

According to the present invention, each knitting needle' is provided with` an accurate gauge for usey in not only measuring off'the length of any particular row of stitches, even while it is being formed, but also., for gaining by inspection and. without computation or addition, the actualy number of stitches or loops which have been formed', right ask they are being formed', without the neces-sity for using an external tape measure counting device, or for sliding the row of stitches out of i their existing position for such addition or measurement. In addition, each needle may be provided also with more than one such measuring` and counting scale and indicia, so that Where a single needle sizev is being used for a number of different gauges ofv yarn, itis only' necessary to bring the appropriate yarn scale into view for this purpose and. for accurate count.

In order to understand clearly the nature of the invention, and the best means of carrying it out, reference may nowA be4 had to the drawings, in which like numerals de note similar parts throughout the several views.

As shown, there is a knitting needle main body portion shown generally at 10i, which may be made of any suitable material, such as plastic, Celluloid, laminated glass of the type used' for making glass fishing rods and the like', or metal such as aluminum, stainless steel or the like. Such needlesl may be made quite stiff, or may be flexible so as to'- be easily bent, and curved, and the mainr body portion is generally cylindrical in contour. At one end 12, the needle is generally smoothly reduced in cross section from location 14 which thus forms the base of an end cone, to the location 16 which is the apex of the cone and is thus the point of the needle.

The length of the needle body may be made quite small or quite large, depending upon the needs of the person doing the knitting, the size of the garment or other article to be made, and the nature of the particular knitting operation being performed. Where the needle has only one pointed end, as shown, an enlarged button, head or base 18 may be carried by the knitting needle body. Such a head may be made either integral with the body, or may be merely threaded into or onto the far end of the needle body 10, as seen in sectioned view in Figure 2, permitting easy removal of the removable head 18a by turning its head to disengage its threaded shank. This will permit removing the knitted threads from either end of the needle body.

Upon removing the head 18a in this manner, it is easily possible to add another length of needle body, which is reduced at its left end and threaded to fit with the threaded socket 20 at the right end of the needle body 10a, and in turn the extension piece or body is provided with a similar threaded socket like 20 at its right hand end to intert threadedly with the head 18a. Thus the person who is knitting may readily carry in a small length container or purse, sufficient bodies 10a and extension pieces to make a composite needle of any desired length, from the shortest to the longest.

Also it is possible, by adding in place of the head 18a of Figure 2, a needle body similar to that of 10a, but pointed at its right hand end, and arranged to threadedly engage at its left hand end with the socket 20, thus forming a single composite double ended knitting needle for use where such needles are required.

The needle body such as 10 or 10a or 10b may be thus made of any desired or suitable length, such as six inches, ten inches, twelve inches or longer, and as seen in Figure l, I provide embossed right on the needle surface or printed or otherwise made a part of the surface of the needle, a series of subdivision graduations, as at 24, with regular interspacing between adjacent graduations, as at 26. In the modified form of Figure l, there are numerical indicia, commencing with zero at location 14, the base of the conical point, and extend rightwardly therefrom in increasing series, such as l, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so up to whatever can be accommodated in the length of the body 10. In the form shown in Figure l, the numbered graduations indicate actual inches between numbers, and each inch in turn is subdivided by quarter inch graduations 26, which remain preferably without numbers since they are readily seen by inspection. In using the form of needle shown in Figure l, the knitter can very readily ascertain the length of the knitted row of stitches which has thus far been knitted, since it is apparent that the zero graduation is at the beginning of the row of stitches, that is to say, where the stitches are being formed in conjunction with the other needle, and as the stitches formed ride up on the body of the needle 10, they will extend rightwardly from the zero point or location 14, say to the numerical location 2, which shows that there are two inches of length of row already done and on the needle. can the knitter obtain by inspection the exact length of her row of stitches on that needle, without sliding the knitted work, but also she can by inspection tell exactly how many stitches he or she is knitting per inch of row. This is important since the various instructions for knitting garments usually state the gauge of the work which is to be obtained in order to follow the instructions ac' curately to make the garment fit. Thus the instructions By use of my needle,

This is particularly useful, since not onlyv he or she can even after the rst quarter inch tell whether his work is actually going to be seven stitches to the inch, and adjust the tightness of stitch formation to obtain this gauge if necessary, right away, with no spoilage of work.

While the form shown in Figure 1 subdivides the length of the needle body into inches, half inches and quarter inches, it is also within the purview of the invention to make the knitting needle with other subdivision scales right on and forming part of the needle body, in terms of stitches per se, depending upon the thickness of yarn used, and the like, so that each graduation indicates either one stitch, or a multiple thereof, and thus, when following an intricate decorative pattern in knitting, the knitter can follow along readily by mere inspection, without continually keeping mental or written count.

Referring now to Figures 2 and 3, it is seen that the needle body, 10a or 10b may be provided with not only the inch, quarter inch scale of Figure l, which is shown at the upper portion of the needle of Figure 2, but also may have other scales, such as scale 30, which has a series of regularly spaced subdivision indicia or graduations, each indicating one stitch, and thus commencing with the zero point at location 14, the base of the cone 12, and progressing rightwardly therefrom, it is seen that the rst number l0 indicates ten actual stitches have been formed, and when the row of stitches gets to 20," then the knitter knows by inspection that he or she has formed 2O stitches, and similarly between the numbered positions, for odd numbers of stitches desired.

This scheme is carried out also in Figure 3, where two such scales 32 and 34 are shown on the needle body, the lower scale being for yarn finer than that of scale 30 of Figure 2, and the scale 32 being for yarn which is coarser than that of scale 30. Thus if the user is employing yarn which forms stitches, tive of which t between the zero and 5 graduations of scale 32, then that is the scale to use in counting his stitches from there on,

and similarly, if he is using finer yarn, then ten stitches may t between zero and l0 on the lower scale 34, or on a similar number of graduations on scale 30 of Figure 2. Having ascertained by mere inspection, the applicable scale, it is simple to continue right on from there, knitting the desired number of stitches, by merely seeing when the right end of his stitched row reaches the desired number, such as 30 in scale number 32, meaning that 30 stitches now occupy the row.

Figures 4 and 5 show how more than one scale may be placed right on the scale body of the knitting needle, so as to remain visible for a long time, that is, for the life of the needle, and to make each row or scale further distinguishable. In this form, there is the knitting needle body 10c, which is formed of any suitable material such as mentioned for Figures l, 2 and 3. I form a number of longitudinal surface recesses or grooves such as 40a, 40h, 40e, and 40d in the needle body 10c which are angularly evenly spaced about its axis, as seen in the cross sectional view of Figure 5. In each such groove such as groove 40a, I place an insert scale body or member 42a, 42b, 42e and 42d, and they may be adhesively secured therein by any suitable adhesive to hold them in place.

Upon the outer surface of each such scale members 42a, 42b, etc., such as surface 44, I imprint or emboss one of the scales of graduations such as shown at 24, 30, 32 and 34 in Figures l, 2 and 3, for the convenience of the user. Thus the knitter has a versatile knitting needle which can be used for the above mentioned purposes. Since each of a pair of knitting needles is formed and imprinted in the identical manner as shown in-the views, except that the numbers on the left hand knitting needle will be oppositely oriented, they are quite handy. Thus on the left hand knitting needle of a pair. saylike that of Figure l, which is the right hand needle, the needle would be pointing toward the right, and its zero point would be at the base of the point cone, with its inch graduation l one inch to the left of such zero point, its second inch graduation 2 being two inches to the left of the zero location 14, etc. This would make it unnecessary for the knitter to read his numbers upside down, as would be the case if both needles were absolutely identical in all respects, which of course could also be done if desired, as another form of the invention.

Although I have described my invention in specific terms it will be understood that various changes may be made in size, shape, materials and arrangement Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. It will also be understood that the invention may be applied to and used on needles of diierent diameters, which are used in knitting, so that a particular diameter of needle may be used for a particular range of yarn thicknesses, while another diameter of needle may be used for other yarn ranges.

I claim:

A knitting needle consisting of a knitting needle body, cylindrical in contour and substantial in length along its axis, an end portion of said body being continuously smoothly reduced conically to form a needle point, a head releasably carried by said needle body at its opposite end, and subdivision scale means forming an integral part of said needle body apart from said pointed end and head, and bearing a plurality of scales of subdivided lines progressing along said needle body from their common zero location at the base of said conical end of said needle point and increasing serially in a direction toward said head, at least one of said scales being subdivided into inches, half inches and quarter inches, and at least one other of said scales being subdivided serially numerically in terms of numbers of consecutive knitted stitches per row of stitching.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

